Silly Putty in Carpet

lesdvs9January 22, 2007

The grandkids have silly putty ground into the carpet, any ideas on how to get it out? I tried ice, it doesn't work like on candle wax. This is new carpet too, my own fault, they got it in their stockings at Christmas, I bought the stuffers. Appreciate any thoughts on getting it out.

I've gotten some really great tips, advice, solutions from these people. I' sure they can give you the help you need for silly putty....ah grandkids! Love 'em to death, but sometimes glad when they go home!

Thanks, I appreciate that. I was picking out candy canes bits and using a wash cloth for candy cane drool from the 2 year old all over the house also:) Yes, I had 6 of them here, a very nice chaotic Christmas, glad to have had them here, but what a mess when they left! I found a wad of melted chocolate in my lazy girl chair (it's just my size) I'm sure there are other surprises I haven't found yet... I'll go check that out though, thanks again. Leslie

I did a Google search, Leslie, and it looks like rubbing alcohol might do the trick. It could take 3 or 4 times, but it's supposed to disintegrate eventually. As always, they say to test the alcohol on an inconspicuous part of your carpet first. :)

It was also mentioned that WD-40 will get it out, but then you'd have to TRY to get the WD-40 out with rubbing alcohol. Best just to skip that step, I'd think.

Let us know how it goes! It sounds like the kids had a great time, at least. LOL

Brenda, Thank you! The rubbing alcohol worked!:) I never even had to tell my husband about it. It's in the room the little ones use. I had picked the worst up of what could be picked up by fingers but the rest was pretty well matted to the carpet and it was sparkly blue and my carpet here is also a dusty sage green so it was noticeable. It only took about 5 minutes of working at it. Wow, what a relief. Yeah, the kids always have a good time here. I'm the grandma who always lets them have things and do the activities mom won't. Never occured to me they'd mash it into the carpet. We'd make pics off funny papers when we were kids, guess times change. Finger painting is something I've never repeated either:) Yes, I also think all the kids had a great time, my mom and dad were here too and she didn't have to do anything with them but after 3 days of visiting, she slept half way home, she lives at the coast, I live in the valley, and she went to sleep that night at 8pm and didn't wake up until 8am the next morning. Just their energy wore her out:) I got to the point that I kept up with them, they got here on the 21st, and the house until Christmas morning and then I threw my hands up and gave up until they all left the afternoon of the 26th! Their ages were 11, 9, 7, 6, 5 , and 2 years old:) The 2 year old is who wiped me out.... No females to help me it was the two sons and my husband, not fair:) Both soon to be ex DILs did not want the kids at Christmas, their loss, our gain for the holiday which actually was wonderful without them, I did feel sorry for the kids though.

I saw a list of helpful hints in an Oprah magazine of things that WD-40 will do. Before Christmas my son my son was newly split from his wife and asked me to try to do something with his clear glass shower doors, they were so water spotted you couldn't see through them. I don't think they'd been cleaned in years, actually. Pretty funny since his soon to ex has a complete closet full on unused cleaners, guess she liked to collect them. So armed with WD-40 which is supposed to clear off water spots I attacked one. Yep with a little elbow grease it did, mostly. Then I couldn't get the grease off the shower door! LOL Glad I didn't do both of them. Rooted around all the cleaners and found one that sprayed on, waited a couple of minutes and took all the spots right off. That one is a winner. This is exactly why in the new house I got I nixed the shower doors, they only look nice the first couple of years. So now I take the WD-40 hints with a sceptical eye and make sure I think it through first. There are alot of things it is good on, like using it first on wood before you try to screw a screw in.

So, Brenda, Thank you very much. My husband is always saying "see I told you so" on the kids having food and drink in the bedroom, this really would have set him off!A sore point, also snickering point. Kids will be kids and he's got some pretty funny tales...

It actually was the nicest most relaxing Christmas with the boys and my folks without the DILs. There's something wrong with that sentence when you include 6 wildly energetic anticipating Christmas children, but it was so nice. As the years passed we saw less and less of sons because of DILs, lots of children, we'd simply come get the kids to come for a visit regularly but it was hit their house and leave. Both boys were pretty broken up when their marriages ended but we were not surprised. Their wives at 38 and 28 wanted to find themselves. The older one wanted to party and go to bars again and the younger one said the son had given her two beautiful children and his function was done, time for her to move on... We were estatic but kept it to ourselves, we knew the boys could do better than wives who treated them so crappy. I did think about sending them thank you cards for that and for Christmas but I didn't want to give them amunititon and have them withhold the kids next year out of spite. They don't want them, the older DIL has a 22 year old live in boyfriend, 2nd childhood?? The younger one has been posting naked photos of herself on escort websites.... Oh yes, well rid of DILs, two divorces in progress, meanwhile we have our sons back, it is so nice to see them on a regular basis after an 11 and 9 year abscence. Actually I'm on here so much now because I'm babysitting the 5 year old most days so her mom can work:)
Sons work fast, both have very nice girlfriends who appear to like us, LOL, wives want them back now, grass isn't greener on the other side! LOL again.
Leslie

Oh, I am glad I found this thread! I hope you don't mind if I butt in... I have a toddler nephew who drools cookies and all manner of food into the carpet! :D Plus the hardest water in the nation! I use lemon oil on the glass shower doors, but it only PREVENTS more calcium deposits, doesn't take them off, but I am going to try a very laborious solution of scraping it off with maybe a knife or single sided razor blade... we can't be buying a new shower all the time, so much ELSE needs to be fixed in the house.

Hi Heathen! I'll go take a look at my son's, whatever I used last at his house on his shower door's took off, swear it had to be 5 years of water spots, right away on the 2nd shower door. The first one I worked and worked on for 2 hours! You don't need a knife, you spray this on, wait a minute and wipe it off, that easy:) Check back, I'll get the name for you, today if I can. I hate cleaning house and I'm all for as easy as I can and as fast as I can do it well:) Also I'd get one of those handy little Bissel shampoo jobs, don't cost very much anymore but they sure are nice with grandchildren around and pets too! Best investment I ever made. But that's if I can find the mess right away too, LOL.
Leslie

Oh that'd be cool! How about a hard water ring in the toilet? It looks awful. :) I guess I can get down and scrub it off with those pumice stones, I just have a phobia about hugging the toilet. :D
I'd sure like to get rid of this rug... It needs a shampoo very much, I'd like to have the Bissel thing... thanks for your help!

Heathen, hi. Sorry it took so long to get back to you. What my son said was under his sink is now what I remembered using, Zap. I had to wait until my girlfriend got back to town to ask her, she helped and cleans houses for a living. She didn't remember the name what I used on my sons, but she says what works great is the X14 foam on glass shower doors. Then for toilets I put on my gloves and scrub with the pumice stone. She says you can put bleach in the bowl and let it sit and try that out. Personally once you get that done, I like those new cleaners on a stick that you can swab out the bowl and click off into it or into the trash and you're done.

Warning for you, don't be mixing different cleaners in the bathroom at the same time and try to ventilate it while you're cleaning it. You may do this, I work on that never assume theory:)

The last house we had I felt no matter how much I cleaned the toilet I thought it was dirty and had "cooties":) I nagged and complained about the toilet until after 10 years we finally remodeled the upstairs and that bath and I got a new toilet. That wasn't exactly a fast solution, LOL. It's stupid, but I finally felt the toilet was clean then. Which it was, but I hated using a toilet that had been someone elses. The people we bought it from had been letting their 19 year old son live in it for the last year and he'd had been partying in the house.

We sold the house a year later:) I even had amythest carpet in my bedroom which we had knocked out one room and made one large room with a walk in closet, sigh....

I'll get over to my son's sooner or later and poke around in his cupboards, it's not like he's going to clean:) When I find what I used, I'll dig up the thread or email you. In the mean time try out what my friend suggested. Let me know how it does.
Leslie

:) Thanks! I was waiting with baited breath! Okay... X14 works and I will wait for you to go to your son's. Can I pin a note on your chest so that you won't forget? :D I can try X14 till you find out.
I can do the pumice... like you said, ick! I bleach the toilets then it eats the seat and I have to get more... oh well. I sure would like to inform all those companies that produce stuff that is supposed to eat calcium deposits that they don't work!
Thank you for thinking of me! I really appreciate it.

Heathen, You're only putting the bleach in the toilet bowl and then soaking it like overnight or something right? What do you mean it eats the seats? When I was having a problem with the hard water rings in the toilet after I used the pumice stone I got some of those drop in the tank by Chlorox and they seemed to keep the tank going pretty well against buildup. Might look into that after you get it scrubbed out one more time. And then as a weekly cleaner use the extended wand thing I've been using and you don't have to touch the toilet at all. Well, then you still have to wipe down the outsides and the seats.
I hate cleaning the bathrooms, especially the kids or grandkids, I used to call it the polywog room:) I think for the smell and all the near misses. Alot of boys:)

I'll try for tomorrow again for you, he only lives 3 blocks away it's just finding the time to get over there. I meant to say that Zap is what he found, we might have used that on the built up shower scum on his walls but I don't think so on his shower doors. I'll be back....
Leslie

Since you mentioned calcium deposits, have you tried CLR (calcium lime rust)? I've heard that's a lot like X14. I also know that a baggy of vinegar over the showerhead rids it of calcium buildup, so maybe it would work in the toilet. The bleach is always good for those rust stains, too...if not CLR.

I found that my stepson kept his attention more on the bowl after I had him clean it a few times. LOL

Hi Brenda, that's the other thing my friend offered up was vinegar. She says she knows someone who swears by vinegar in their tank. I tried CLR myself on the old house, just wouldn't get it all off. Even took off the shower head to soak it in the CLR:)
Good idea on the stepson though:) Hands on training is usually pretty good. Why I laugh alot at 2-1/2 Men show.
Leslie

Yeah... CLR helps, but in my BF's Bathroom, I am dealing with about 10 years of buildup... at least I THOUGHT it was 10 years, but I prefer the guest bathroom and since I've started using it, the build up is QUICK so, maybe it's not 10 years buildup. :)
Oh, I am guessing, but I thought it was bleach that ate the rubber fittings on the toilet seat. Once I had a padded seat and I am pretty sure that it was bleach that made it crack in like 3 years. Making the plastic brittle.
I'd THINK that vinegar in the toilet would help a lot... What do you do, just keep pouring vinegar in each and every time you flush?
I thought that My BF missed the toilet... I don't know... but for some reason his toilet is always AWFUL... hairs and etc... like it's a dust attractant too. I wish I could make the men go outside in an outhouse. :D YOUR BANISHED! It's really funny too, cuz he's a kind of anal Japanese guy... and his toilet is still the dirtiest.

That bad huh?? My son's was so disgusting that I tackled it while my girlfriend did the kid's bathroom. Over an hour later I'm still working on one shower door and every once in awhile squirting something on, swear to god 1/2 inch thick soap scum on the shower walls. AND the most disgusting toilet I've ever seen. Ok Heathen, I get why you don't want to hug it, LOL. I have a total mental picture of this now! My girlfriend who does houses for a living walked in on me and burst out laughing because I had gloves on that went almost to my elbows! Together we did the toilet & surrounding area 4 times and I still think the only way to get it clean is to buy a new one which I think he is going to replace it. My friend is gone again to her son's wedding in Manteca and no phone and she'll be gone most of the month, she'll be dog sitting while they're off on a honeymoon. Maybe Brenda knows the vinegar trick. I don't know why guys can't hit the toilet but anyone who can just point and shoot outside, I don't think it bothers them over much, after all they don't clean the toilets anyways....

After hearing your problems I will get that shower door cleaner for you, I promise! You know how I solved that in my old house? I got rid of the doors and installed shower curtains. I'd rather replace shower curtains every 6 months than keep those doors clean! In the new house I specifically said no shower doors. They put up signs with red marks across them in the showers. The guys installed them anyways. I made them take them out and give me a written warranty that if the marks show in a few years they have to come out and rub them back out again. I think I was the only one in the subdivision to not want them, they put them in automatically.

Hmmm, not sure about the vinegar in the toilet. I've only tried it on the showerhead. I guess pouring it in wouldn't work. Those bleach tablets that you put in the tank which Leslie mentioned really seem to work. Maybe try putting vinegar right in the tank, so when you flush, you get a little bit of heaven? LOL

DH only does the stand-up routine with the toilet right before he goes to work (don't ask me why...), so I'd say he's pretty much "trained". The comment about it being a hair magnet is SO true, though, and I'm more to blame than DH....long hair goes EVERYwhere!

We've done the shower curtain thing, too - replacing when needed, so we don't have to clean those monster doors! :D

I'd like to get rid of the shower doors too... I haven't had them since I was a kid... great, I get shower doors and seriously hard water all in one fell swoop. :) Okay, I will try anything... bleach tablets, vinegar... we'll see what works. :) thanks everyone. :)
Now.. to get the BF to replace both shower 'kits'. The whole insert or whatever the fiberglass thing is. In my dreams. :)

Hi Heathen! Hey there! I took my grandgirl home today and finally remembered your request. It's Disinfects Comet Bathroom Cleaner. It disolves soap scum and harwater film. I even give you a link so you'll know what it looks like in the store:) Spray it on, wait a minute and it wipes off. Really.

Actually if you can get him to take the doors off then you have to hide the marks and that's ugly also. We covered the holes and applied enamel to them but it was always evident when the shower curtain was open. But, closed it made the bathroom alot more inviting and alot cleaner! My husband was not a professional. When the contractor took off the doors here you can't tell where they were. Of course they hadn't been up for 10 years also. Big difference.

But, try the specific Comet cleaner on the glass doors, should make a big difference. Good luck and let me know how it works for you. Leslie

oh! I forgot to come here till today! which is good, I am going to the store! THANK YOU! YOU ARE A LIFESAVER! If I could have children, I'd name my first born after you. :)
thank you thank you! (was that enough thank yous?)

I was about to try some of the more extreme solutions using alcohol & WD-40 when something occurred to me: silly putty is sticky to itself! I grabbed a fair glob of my kid's silly putty and started to work it into a warm and very malleable state. I then stuck it into the couch fabric it was pressed into. As I doubed the glob of silly putty onto the smaller clumps - it started to come up! I then tried it on the carpet where there was a big glob I had ground in further by trying to remove by hand - same excellent results! No stains, no chemicals! Just a little bit of time & effort daubing it out! The silly putty picked up a bunch of fabric lint but who cares? (it didn't seem to hurt it anyway! Lol)